Prize-winning journalist tells UNC-Chapel Hill she's not teaching without tenure
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has informed University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill officials that she has no intention of starting work there next week unless the university grants her tenure.
Posted — UpdatedHannah-Jones, a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna and a New York Times reporter, was hired in April as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the university's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. She won the Pulitzer, a Peabody Award and a so-called "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for "The 1619 Project" about slavery's impact on America.
Her lawyers on Monday sent a letter to Vice Chancellor and General Counsel Charles Marshall and two other attorneys stating that Hannah-Jones is rescinding the contract, which she believes the university entered in bad faith, but will not withdraw her application for tenure.
University officials told Hannah-Jones that her tenure vote would come in November 2020, with an expected start date in January, according to the letter. When that didn't happen, officials said to expect a tenure vote in January, but again, that never took place.
"To this date, she has not received an explanation from UNC as to why tenure has been withheld from her," the letter states. "Without full knowledge about why she had been denied a vote on her tenure package, Ms. Hannah-Jones entered into the fixed-term agreement ... in an effort to minimize the monetary damages she incurred, as well as the damage to her reputational standing."
"There's a huge credibility problem, and I'm afraid it's because people – the journalism – has moved away from objectivity, impartiality, fairness, giving both sides," Hussman recently told WRAL News.
Hannah-Jones is concerned such meddling will continue to affect her bid for tenure, according to her attorneys.
"Ms. Hannah-Jones cannot trust that the University would consider her tenure application in good faith during the period of the fixed-term contract," the letter states. "In light of the information which has come to her attention since that time, she cannot begin employment with the University without the protection and security of tenure."
Related Topics
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.